Euphorbia Pulcherrima
by Lilacnightmares
Summary: She knew that she shouldn't be talking to Unknown. She can't stop. He listens to everything that she says and he never speaks over her as the others do. There's just something about him that she can't just can't bring herself to ignore. Is that wrong? Yes. Does she care? That's a hard question to answer. Unknown knows the answer. He will ensure it's a Merry Christmas in Paradise.


UNKNOWN: How's your little party?

WISTERIA: I thought you said you were coming.

WISTERIA: Are you?

UNKNOWN: Tsk, tsk. You know I can't give you information so loosely, little miss coordinator.

WISTERIA: ...I haven't told them.

WISTERIA: ...

WISTERIA: That we're talking, I mean.

UNKNOWN: Oh? I'm your dirty little secret now?

WISTERIA: I wouldn't phrase it like that.

UNKNOWN: Now, now… It's a secret if we both keep it.

WISTERIA: I won't tell them. I…

WISTERIA: There's so much they won't tell me.

UNKNOWN: Oh? And you think I will?

WISTERIA: …

WISTERIA: I don't expect that.

WISTERIA: I'm just not sure what I feel anymore.

WISTERIA: Sometimes it feels like I wasn't ever meant to be around these people. Because they're always comparing me to their former leader, and…

WISTERIA: I want to be great. I want to prove myself.

WISTERIA: How can I complete with the shadow of somebody better than me?

UNKNOWN: It's a shame they don't appreciate you more…

UNKNOWN: During this time of year nonetheless…

WISTERIA: Nobody's ever talked to me tonight.

UNKNOWN: Oh?

UNKNOWN: Hm…

UNKNOWN: How's about I guess what you're doing right now?

UNKNOWN: Stop me if I'm wrong.

UNKNOWN: You're supposed to be working on their little party. You have a lot to do, and you should be greeting guests and making sure everything is fine.

UNKNOWN: You're standing there in the cold, smiling as people pass you by and you greet them.

UNKNOWN: You know they're watching you like a hawk. They're waiting for you to slip up but you refuse.

UNKNOWN: You're all alone. They've left you to the dogs. You're anxious. You're nervous.

UNKNOWN: But the instant that the flow of people calms down you're back on your phone.

UNKNOWN: Talking to me.

WISTERIA:

UNKNOWN: Hahaha….

UNKNOWN: I'm right, then.

WISTERIA: I just can't believe that none of them have even talked to me tonight.

UNKNOWN: And they're supposed to be your friends, right?

UNKNOWN: Doesn't that sound suspicious?

WISTERIA: I…

WISTERIA: The holidays are hard for everybody. Christmas, especially. I can't exactly be selfish.

WISTERIA: It's the season for caring for others…

UNKNOWN: And yet, nobody has cared for you.

UNKNOWN: Have they?

WISTERIA: …

UNKNOWN: That's what I thought.

* * *

It had been a great party for what it was worth.

Not every member of the RFA had been able to volunteer and work the event, but that didn't mean that their thoughts weren't into it and with those that were working. Well, that should have been the idea.

It didn't feel like it, though.

She didn't feel like everyone really cared for her, no, their attention was on every other little thing. Lila felt ostracized by her so-called friends. It kind of stung in the worst way imaginable. How could she focus or want to do her best when it didn't seem to matter?

Sure, she did what was expected of her and did right by the party guests simply expecting seasonal cheer. Her heart just hadn't been in the right place to focus on being cheery and happy this time of year.

It was always hard, and the fact that nobody even bothered to speak with her at any point during the night, and hardly even during the day, had left Lila feeling a little bitter.

They were all caught up in their own thoughts, and when someone mentioned how great it had been when Rika had been in charge and how lackluster it felt now-

Well, she felt done.

She just wanted to go to bed.

Perhaps that's why she kept texting Unknown throughout the afternoon when he sent her messages that nobody else could read. She knew better, but really, he was the only person that made her feel wanted at that point. He was blunt but he was very polite when they spoke. How bad could he be anyway?

All he did was send her to an apartment with the RFA.

The last message that he sent was that he hoped that she had fun. Nothing else had been anywhere near malicious or with cruel intent.

Compared to the others tonight, she felt more in touch with him. They talked and it was like they just clicked. It was far easier to speak with him then it was with people who were still mistrusting her. It wasn't like he wasn't a lot of her, either. He just wanted to know what time the party was occurring, and how long it would be into the night.

He said that he might come.

Now, she knew that if he did come to the party, that would mean that she would have to give him up to the RFA. It was a reasonable thing to do and what anybody else would do.

She wasn't sure if she would do that right off the bat, however.

She had a lot of questions of her own to ask him. There were things that even she had not yet figured out and if she could just know the missing pieces maybe she wouldn't have felt so useless and alone. Lila had supplied that information as she walked into the party, but she had not heard a word from him since.

Nobody had approached her either to say that they were Unknown. She didn't know what he looked like, so she had been scanning the crowd off and on to see if he would show up. He never did.

She didn't know what to say. She was kind of disappointed about it.

Disappointed? She paused, stashing her phone back into her pocket as she began to head out the front doors of the party center to see if they needed anything else before she went back to the apartment. It didn't seem like they did so she went straight to the door to retrieve her cost.

He was supposed to be the bad guy.

She shouldn't feel so bad about him not keeping his word.

And yet, Lila was disappointed.

"Everybody left, even Jaehee. I wish that Seven could have been here so that all of us could have been together," Yoosung spoke from her side as he strolled over to her side with a smile. "Thank you for your hard work tonight, Lila. I feel bad I couldn't even come out to say hello to you because of all of the guests inside."

Oh. So, she was going to be acknowledged after all. She thought that if anything, would have gotten a nod at most, well, at least it seemed like they were going to send her off with Yoosung.

She shook her head. "It's no problem."

He smiled a bit as the two of them walked towards the road. "I'd love to walk you back to the apartment but I guess I can't because of Seven's security reasons. It's great that Jumin could at least have a ride ready for you. I don't know how I'd feel if you had to walk back alone."

As if they cared. The intrusive whisper said.

Why would you say that when you haven't even tried to say so much as hi to her? Her brain immediately went to that thought, and it twisted in her gut. She was a little bitter but that didn't mean she was going to take it out on anyone. That was just childish.

The holidays were hard for everybody and she couldn't act out just because she wasn't happy. It just stung that nobody even bothered to try.

The RFA was supposed to be her friends… she hadn't really had friends in such a very long time but she knew that this wasn't how they operated.

Was she just overthinking this? Was she the one being overdramatic?

Surely they must have cared about her, they probably just assumed that she was alright since that's what she had told them earlier in the day if they bothered to look at the chatroom. But weren't friends supposed to notice when somebody was lying?

Weren't they?

She didn't that show on her face.

"It's alright. No worries, I appreciate it," she said. "Everybody worked hard tonight. We all deserve a pat on the back."

"Yeah. You're right. It was really nice being around everyone again, even though we weren't exactly together for most of the night. I hope that we have more chances like this in the future," he paused as they reached the end of the line where a black car began to roll up.

Yoosung opened the door for Lila when it came to a complete stop. She pressed her hand to his cheek and smiled.

"Thank you, Yoosung. I feel the same way about it. Hopefully, it'll work a little better next time around. It was a little lonely not being able to talk to everybody all night long. I'll talk to you later, okay?" she slid into the car carefully without another word said to him.

It was a long ride.

Twenty minutes tops.

Not that she was counting.

They purposely went in a roundabout way and only took the path less traveled as to ensure the safety of the location.

Seven was very specific that it stay out of anyone's hands in case the hacker came about. Driver Kim could only take her halfway to the apartment in the city and for the rest of the way she had to walk back on foot.

It wasn't all that bad.

Okay, she was going to take that back before she jinxed herself. It was a little chilly, but she had dealt with much colder weather back in America. She only tugged her overcoat a little closer to her body as the illuminated city began to lower their lights down.

The snow was still coming down. It wasn't a heavy fall but it was more than a sprinkle and less than a flurry. Lila let out a breath and watched as it dissipated into a fog. She was going to give Seven a stern talking to about this one of these days. She didn't mind walking a little bit but she was going to drive the line at walking through a storm.

She headed inside and grabbed the first elevator up to one of the highest floors until she got to the appropriate level. She stepped off and headed to the apartment at the end of the hallway.

Opening the door, Lila set her coat against the rack and started to unravel her tightly woven scarf to place beside it. She patted down her hair and tried to rid it of some of the ice crystals, though to no avail, as some remained. It was surely winter here in Seoul. This wasn't like how it was back home.

It was a bitter cold that didn't have the warmth she felt back there. Sure, there was a lot of bad but there was a lot of good too. There was her sister, Lucy, there were her grandparents, and all those flowers in her garden that would brighten up any dreary day. She was a little homesick, well, maybe more than a little. It was times like this when she wondered if leaving had been the right choice.

One thing was for sure, it felt a lot better in this apartment than it did outside, that was for damn sure.

She lifted her head and took a few steps into the living room before she stopped in her tracks. Huh. Something did not feel right. Something was off about this place and she wasn't sure what it was. It seemed like everything was quiet and normal as it had been when she left so what was she missing here?

Oh.

Maybe that was the problem.

"Didn't I leave the lights on when I left?" She murmured in question to her thoughts. It was dark…. too dark in here to be comfortable and she hated the pitch-black dark.

Her fumbling hands went back to find the switch but a hand brushed against hers as she so and suddenly, the room was illuminated in light. That was a hand that did not belong to her, did not belong to anything that she knew at all. She nearly let out a scream of mere shock but she was unable to find the use of her voice in moments of true fear as she stared at the intruder.

"Merry Christmas! You thought that this place would be empty tonight after we spoke? I couldn't disappoint you. Hello there, Lila. Know who I am? I hope this was the happiest day of your life. Hahaha."

His hair was as white as the snow outside, his eyes were as green as the grass underneath it, and his smile was as twisted and big as she imagined it when they spoke to one another. He towered over her much as the rest of the RFA did seeing as she was fairly short, wearing dark clothes that contrasted heavily against the white dress she was wearing.

It was him.

This had to be him.

Unknown.

"You're… you're..." her voice was small, twisted. "Unknown."

He was visibly pleased by her answer, glad to see that she knew who he was without much to ask.

She took a step back but he took a step forward as he began to speak again, his green eyes hardened on her face. "For some reason, they strengthened the security two, three times tops… Oh, but I was able to find a flaw in the system thanks to your intel. I must thank you for your cooperation."

Was it?

Had she just willingly done as he asked without thinking about what it might have meant?

She had told him everything that he wanted to know when he pressed.

She didn't think much of it.

Why would she? It was small. Little things, small, insignificant things. Just a question about this and that and this. It was little things. Little things that shouldn't have mattered much at all in the scheme of things.

Time of a party.

Duration of a party.

Where it was being held.

What did those things have to do with getting inside of this apartment? Lila just thought… no, she wasn't sure what she thought anymore. She was confused.

Every moment that she had spoken with him that day had felt fun. Sure, there was always an air about him that felt odd but it had been such a long time since she spoke to anyone that listened.

She felt a spark when he was interested in her, and she never felt that with any of the RFA, no, she felt like an outsider with them. Just a little wind-up doll that does what they ask because she's too nice to say no.

That was how she wound up in this apartment as the party coordinator in the first place.

Because she was too nice to people.

Because she did what others wanted first.

Because she wanted to help somebody in need when she could barely help herself.

The first time she ever really acted selfishly in her life was when she kept talking to Unknown without letting Seven know that she was doing that at all; She felt somewhat guilty about but at the same time, she just didn't care.

They hadn't shown her a lot of attention or even bothered to sincerely thank her for all the work she had been doing.

Maybe that had been a mistake. Maybe she should have spoken with them and addressed her icky feelings. Maybe she should have known better than to talk to a stranger.

Sure, they all left and let Yoosung say something when all was said and done. It felt like she was an afterthought more than somebody that they all cared about.

An afterthought.

Was that all she was?

Had he been right?

She wasn't going to drop her guard in front of Unknown. No, she couldn't allow herself to think that she may be safe around him. She still wasn't sure of his intentions. All she had to go was minute details and how well she thought she was reading his strange personality.

Right now, he was just looking at her rather oddly. He didn't seem as bothered by the situation at all; Being as he was the one fine and dandy with breaking and entering. There was a small, bemused smirk on his face that seemed to grow if her breath quickened or if she visibly shivered from the cold.

"Well," Lila said, carefully. "You've been nothing but nice to me as long as I've known you. You've never done anything to hurt me or the others. Why shouldn't I have been nice to you today? It's the time of year to be nice to others. Besides, you're the only person that bothered to seemingly want to speak with me tonight, you know? The others just ignored me."

Unknown cocked his head to the side, curious. She had mentioned it on the floor but he clearly wanted to hear more in person. "Oh? They make you work so hard for their event all day and then they don't bother to speak with you, or even thank you for your time? Such a shame, princess. You're underappreciated. I thought you were having much more fun with them."

That's what he had said.

She was supposed to have fun with the RFA for some reason or another, but clearly, that had been a farce.

"Everyone… is busy with their own lives on Christmas, Unknown," she deflected that regard, instantly. She couldn't admit those feelings out loud, lest she gives in to her fear. "It's a little selfish to want attention from everyone around you when you're doing something for a good cause like that. Just because I'm in this country without my family doesn't mean I get everyone's time."

"Mhm," he said. "I expected a girl like you to say something like that."

He wasn't giving her much room to think or try and figure anything out at all. She hadn't realized it but she had been steadily trying to put distance between the two of them; Unknown had, at the same time, been inching his way closer and closer until there was hardly any gap between them anymore.

Her back collided with the wall behind her as she ran out of places to move or turn to.

They were in the hallway and that meant that Seven should have been able to see everything that was happening at that very moment if he was doing his job instead of anything else.

If Seven saw…

He could help.

Would he help?

He pressed his hand against the wall beside her face. The loud snap caused her to tremble, this time not from the cold but from nerves. Her vision snapped from the intrusion at her side and then settled back onto Unknown as she stared up at him with wide, brown eyes.

"You're such a good girl. You always think of others instead of yourself first. But, you know what, princess? I almost can't believe that someone like you would continue to speak to someone like me. I could almost say that you were having fun talking to me. I'm almost certain that you're pretending to be a good girl."

Unknown laughed. It was low and it was filled with vitriol, amusement, and something she couldn't quite identify right then.

His gaze left from hers, "Oh? What's this? You aren't saying anything so I must be right, huh?"

Her breath was caught in her throat. What should she do? What should she say? Should she run? Should she try and reason with him? She didn't even know what he wanted!

What was she doing right now?

She should have screamed or called for help or at the very least tried to push him away from herself.

Wasn't that what people did in these situations? Her mind was racing. She had never been cornered like this. Why wasn't her phone going off? Why hadn't Seven done anything?

He said he was always watching and he was always aware of what was happening in this apartment. What good was that if Unknown had gotten in and hadn't been caught by the alarm system or Seven himself. She didn't want to think about it but her sickened stomach told her one scary thought.

**Seven doesn't care **.

If he cared… if the RFA cared… would Unknown even be here?

No.

Lila sucked in the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in, trying to tread lightly. "Nobody's ever been interested in me before like you… and you're fun to talk with. What's wrong about that...?"

"Don't beat around the bush, princess," Unknown cooed. His tone was almost mocking, borderline on the edge of something that sounded like care. "I know what it is. You like me. Or, perhaps you were doing what you were told because you're supposed to do that ."

Lila sank down into herself as she tried to cope with the situation. It wasn't much, but all she could do was hug herself tightly, and pray.

Unknown seemed to like this response a lot. She could feel him start to move and she flinched when she saw him start to lift his other hand. He reached out, taking hold of her chin with his forefinger and thumb to ensure that she looked at him. She couldn't turn her head away, nor could she move her body.

He had her cornered.

"Say that you did it because you like me, and I'll surely make this into an unforgettable Christmas for you, princess," he said. "You don't need to lie anymore. I know how you're feeling right now. You told me… You're feeling betrayed by them, you're wondering why they hadn't even bothered to come and check on you or message you."

He… He wasn't wrong.

How could they supposedly care about her if they weren't even bothering to save her?

Lila shuddered.

No, no. She couldn't let herself think so poorly of them right now; It couldn't be that that was the truth. She didn't want to believe after being around them for a few weeks that they wouldn't even care about her well-being. It was just the timing, right?

They all just missed their dead friend, and this was their first holiday without her around. They couldn't be expected to have everything together when it had already been such a tough year for everyone.

Then again, how had they treated her tonight?

But, did any of those feelings truly justify this? Was she right in feeling that she could trust him more than she could trust the RFA? Even that thought made her head spin even harder and faster than it had been before.

Was he all bad…?

Really?

He had spent so much of the day comforting her and letting her vent when nobody else would even give her the time of day. Sure, he might have seemed bad but…

Was she just trying to make herself feel less frightened by twisting her own thoughts?

Lila was ripped away from her thoughts as Unknown's voice flooded her eardrums. She blinked and realized that he was so close now that she could feel his breath against her skin.

He smirked, "Why are you trembling? Are you scared of me? Are you scared… of what will _happen_? You shouldn't have contacted me if you're scared of me, princess. You were the one reaching out to me, after all."

She did.

She had.

She could have just ignored him.

She could have told Seven.

Yet she decided to keep pursuing him all on her own.

"Yes," Lila decided to stick to her wits and just say it out loud. "I-I kept talking to you _knowing_ what could happen. I had numerous opportunities to back out of it but I just didn't. I don't know what that means. I just thought I could… I don't know, it feels different with you then it does with them."

As if on cue, and as if he knew that that was what she was going to say, he chuckled. "I knew I was right when I chose you. You and I… we're special. We're the kind of people that the rest of the population tosses aside like useless trash. Yet, we continue to survive and fester. Only someone who knows that cruel pain can connect with someone else who has also experienced it."

"What…?" Lila stared. None of that made sense. Did he mean to say that if she wasn't the one in this apartment than it could have been somebody else entirely who would be in the same boat? What was it they had against the RFA? What were the people that he worked with thinking?

What was he thinking?

Unknown paid her confusion no mind whatsoever. He just cupped her cheek in hand and gently rubbed it to and fro to coax down some of her little shakes. "Don't you worry about a thing, princess. I came here to make you feel more alive than you ever have in your life," he said.

Those words sounded nice but the way that he said it was ominous.

Unknown chuckled. "I won't throw you aside or lose interest once the shine wears off, not as those traitors have done to you. When you started to speak to me, it finally occurred to me that I should have never let you suffer with these traitors. I've come to fix what I've gone and broken… aren't you excited? I bet you are. You couldn't wait to see me. That's why you kept talking to me. You want to spend your Christmas with me ."

He wasn't right, was he?

She couldn't deny that she had kept gleefully talking to him. In fact, every new text made her eyes light up and her fingers scrambling to find and type out a response. Maybe it was the rush with danger, or maybe it was the idea that she could do what she wanted without the RFA telling her what to do and what not to do. But that couldn't have meant that she…

Lila swallowed, although her throat felt incredibly dry all of a sudden. This was wrong… this was supposed to be wrong.

Why didn't it feel as wrong as it was supposed to?

Unknown took her stunned silence as approval. As a matter of fact, he seemed to already know how this was going to play out. He already figured out that whatever he wanted out of her was going to happen.

He began to spell out his thoughts to her, one by one as more and more of his plan was revealed. "Let me tell you about the Christmas that I picture in my head. I'm sure you'll end up loving it. Santa, you know that man named Santa. The bastard who says that he'll only give presents to nice people. He's actually just a pathetic character that adults made up to control children. But people are so naive all over, and want to believe that."

He continued, "Millions of children are being fooled by adults. Why are only nice children treated specially? Isn't that very strange? There are so many bad people like me all over this world too. Those adults should be ashamed of themselves. If I could create my own Christmas, I would get rid of Santa entirely. Instead, I would find all the adults who made me feel guilty and get my revenge on them."

Lila didn't realize it. But, she was shaking in her tracks. He sounded as though he had been hurt, hurt so very badly in his past that now all he could imagine was getting back at those that made him miserable.

"Don't you just want to get back at all of them for how they've made you feel? I know you can't possibly be okay with how they've treated you like a disposable replacement."

The worst part of it was the fact that she kind of agreed with him.

Despite the fact that it made her feel sick at the same time. There were times when she was so hurt at things that her mother had done to her, things her father had done to her, things that people had done to her… she never wanted people to actually get hurt, but when she was in the wrong headspace…

She would often think about what if those people got hurt in such a way that they had hurt her?

It wasn't right. She knew that. **She knew that. **

Unknown's voice dragged her back out of her head, and she lifted her gaze to see him so very close. He hadn't moved a bit. Their lips were so close that they were almost touching as he began to speak, "And the bad children out there… like you and me, we will get our rightly deserved presents. Aren't you excited about what presents you'll get?"

She was the one doing such naughty things. She never told them who she was talking to and she never once told him to go away. She had all the chances in the world to do the right thing and she just didn't.

"This isn't…" her voice wavered.

Unknown noticed her internal struggles. He could sense that she was battling inside of herself with her sense of what she wanted and what she thought that she wanted. He delighted in the way that her eyes trembled and searched for answers she couldn't find.

"_This isn't right, this is wrong._ Is that what you're going to say to me? Oh, my poor, dear, sweet, naive, little princess. I think we both know that you don't really feel that way about this," his voice is soft. It was hauntingly familiar in some strange way. Something about him just seemed to scream that she knew him, or she knew someone like him.

Lila blinked back confused tears.

Unknown reassuringly patted the top of her head like she was a good girl. "You don't have to say it, I know you have a weak constitution," Unknown coaxed. "I believe we both know what your answer is. If you wanted to run away you would have run the moment you realized it was me."

Would she?

Would it really be so bad to do what she wanted?

Would it hurt anything if she actually chose to do something for herself instead vying to please everybody in the room?

She was still standing there and she hadn't even tried to run away. She could have tried to fight him if she really wanted out. She just accepted it. It had been damn near five or ten minutes, she wasn't sure of the time, and no alarms were blaring and no help was coming.

As much as she didn't want to admit it. Unknown was right. The RFA… if they really cared they would have noticed by now, and done something. Lila stared up at him and slowly, but surely, she nodded her head in confirmation.

Unknown was…

He was happy with her answer as it had been exactly what he expected it would be.

"I'll show you what real happiness is, Lila. You're invited to my Christmas, and it will be so sweet that you will never want to return to reality. There are no naughty children there, no guilt from the world, only true happiness awaits." he murmured so that only she could hear him.

He broke the space between them that still lingered and pressed his lips against her own.

It was one of those long-winded kisses that made you desperate to reclaim the oxygen in your lungs by the time it was all said and done.

He was desperate, rough, and even triumphant.

Her eyes were dazed, clouded even as she could not believe what was happening to her.

Unknown let her go free momentarily. He took a step back so that she could reenter herself and prepare for what was coming next. From the corner of his eye, he spotted the flashing light on the camera in the corner of the room. An idea occurred to him that made him nearly grin ear to ear in sadistic glee.

He turned back to look at Lila, "I have your first present too, and my, my, it's also your first present for as well."

Lila paused, and then swallowed the fear that came rushing up the back of her throat like thick bile. "And… and that is… what, exactly?"

He beckoned her to come close to him.

She obliged.

"I'm going to tell you something that I never tell anyone because I hate the sound of it coming out of people's mouths. However, it might not piss me as much if you're the one saying it," he said, quietly. "My name, princess. I know you want to know. I'm going to tell you my real name so you can say it nice and slow. I want you to say it. I want you to say that you're leaving with me. Leave those traitors with a nice parting gift of their failures.."

Her heart was beating out of her chest as he leaned over next to her ear and whispered, "My name is Saeran."

Lila looked at Unknown, no, _Saeran_. She really looked at him and put a name to his face in her memory. She was nervous but she finally had something to go off of instead of an untraceable message; There was a lot in a name and knowing this now would have much such a difference in the past.

**Saeran.**

His name.

That was his name. He was no longer the faceless unknown to her, no, he was Saeran, a stranger that had made an offer to her that she was too scared to do anything but refuse. His back was to the camera as he faced her and no one would know what he looked like if that thing was even functioning.

All they would know is his name.

Why did that matter?

Saeran waited.

Her gaze lingered on that camera where help was never ever going to come from again. If they didn't care… if her family didn't even care to call her… if her friends didn't even try to speak with her… if nobody in the world cared… then maybe she was meant to go with him.

"I'm going to leave this place with you, Saeran."

The only sound left in that room was the wicked laughter that escaped Saeran as he smiled at Lila.

* * *

Something was amiss.

Seven stared at his monitor as the footage of the apartment displayed footage that showed no sign of movement. That was odd, he thought, given the time of night, Lila should have gotten back to the apartment by now. The party had been over for a while now and yet, there was no sign of her having come home at all.

His stomach felt uneasy, though.

This was so very unlike Lila.

She must have taken a scenic route? His brain supplied the only hopeful solution that he had.

All he knew was that something was wrong with cameras and he sincerely wanted to believe that it was a holiday glitch because of all the people out and out celebrating. Something was telling him that that was wrong. Reaching out for his phone, he went straight for the chatroom to see if she was online. He hurriedly glanced at the active users and his stomach sank when he saw that her name wasn't listed. His next option was to see what they had to say while he booted up the other cameras located near the apartment.

707 has entered the chatroom.

Yoosung: Heya Seven!

Jaehee Kang: Hello.

707: Is Lila here?

Jaehee Kang: She hasn't come on yet.

707: She hasn't?

ZEN: Hey, what's up?

707: Uhm

707: Oh

Yoosung: ? ? ?

Seven stared at the camera feed as it came to life in front of him. It was just as he had feared, somebody had looped static footage, and it had been playing for God knows how long while he was working on his other assignments. Something was very wrong.

707: Somebody hacked in the cameras in front of Rika's apartment.

707: It's just static footage.

ZEN: WHAT?!

Yoosung: No way!

Jumin Han: Since when?

707: I'm not sure.

707: I had my eye on it while I was working but then I noticed that there was no change at all.

707: I thought it was weird so I looked into it —

Jaehee Kang: If that's the case —

Yoosung: Don't tell me something's happened to Lila!

707: ...Since it's been playing pre-recorded video I can't

707: I can't check to see if she got home safe or not.

ZEN: Dude, what are we going to do?!

707: I'm going over all of the cameras in and around the building now

707: Jumin.

707: Can we find out when she left the party and when she was dropped off?

Jumin Han: Assistant Kang.

Jaehee Kang: I'm already on it.

Jaehee Kang has left the chatroom.

ZEN: Don't tell me…

ZEN: No…

Yoosung: It

Yoosung: It can't be!

Yoosung: I knew I should have gone with her.

ZEN: We can't think the worst. She's… she's okay. We have to believe that.

Jaehee Kang has entered the chatroom.

Jaehee Kang: I got the time from Driver Kim. I texted you the details.

707: Thanks…

Seven immediately plugged those numbers into his system and watched as nearly everything came out empty and there was no Lila to be seen apart from when she exited the car with Driver Kim on the street a few blocks away.

He checked everything else in the area.

The news wasn't good.

707: …

707: I've checked the cameras. I can see where she got out of the car but after that

707: I have nothing.

707: She went missing after that.

Jumin Han: I'll contact V.

707: **Please**

Seven was checking everything that he could get his hands onto, but it seemed like whoever had gone out of their way to grab her had thought about every single little possibility because each and every single camera had been malfunctioning ever since Lila started heading towards the apartment.

The grim realization hung over his head like a ton of bricks stacked against his chest.

This had been planned.

Who would do this?

As if the universe had the answers to his question, he realized that the camera inside of the apartment was now functioning. There was the smallest sign of movement, he hurriedly moved all of the browsers out of the way until that one was dead center in his vision.

The picture was distorted, and some of the audio was frayed but there were two people inside of the apartment. He immediately went to remedy that fact, and by the time he had fixed the image, he noted the time stamp on the clock was a while ago, as in, nearly a half-hour ago.

It was Lila, for certain.

However, he didn't know the other person. Lila would never have just allowed something or somebody into the apartment. Her body language was tense, nervous, and scared. They were talking but he wasn't sure about what. He had turned the audio off just for her privacy but it was recording in the background just in case something like this happened.

Seven's heart was racing but he ignored it. With a tentative click, he turned on the audio to the apartment just as Lila made eye contact with the camera and stared at him.

**"I'm going to leave this place with you, Saeran." **

Seven's blood ran cold. Then, his phone began to screech in his lap with aggression. His attention snapped down to the device where the chatroom now appeared to be corrupted and broken into pieces.

There was an unknown user in the chatroom.

UNKNOWN: Don't worry.

UNKNOWN: I'll be taking good care of the princess from now on. ^^

UNKNOWN: Every single day will be a Merry Christmas now.

UNKNOWN: Today…

UNKNOWN: Tomorrow…

UNKNOWN: Forever.

UNKNOWN: Merry

UNKNOWN: Christmas

UNKNOWN: to us.


End file.
